


Listen To Teacher

by OptimisticallyCynical



Series: Breaking The Hawk [10]
Category: Cobra Kai (Web Series)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-21
Updated: 2021-01-21
Packaged: 2021-03-12 17:47:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,570
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28889361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OptimisticallyCynical/pseuds/OptimisticallyCynical
Summary: The last place that Hawk ever wanted to fall into a panic attack was inside the dojo. The last person he'd ever want to see him during one was his Sensei.To bad life seems to hate his guts lately.
Relationships: Demetri/Eli "Hawk" Moskowitz
Series: Breaking The Hawk [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2103372
Comments: 24
Kudos: 87





	Listen To Teacher

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so I know I said it would be awhile, but I started writing this last night and I have been dying to write a Hawk and Kreese scene since I started this. I was even working on it during our breaks in the TCC I was in. XD   
> Anyways, hope you guys enjoy it!

The skin on his wrist still burned with the imprint of Demetri’s lips.

Hawk snarled to himself as he stood in the dojo bathroom, clawing at it with yet another layer of water and soap.

He’d been trying to mind his own business in the library. Trying to finish his work and setting everything up, the last person he wanted to see there was Demetri.

...

Okay maybe that wasn’t true. The last person he wanted to see while working on his little project was Kylar, but still. Demetri was a close second to that.

He’d even tried to be civil, or at least as civil as the two of them could be with each other as of late. He hadn’t been there for Demetri, he was busy working on his own thing, but the guy just kept pushing. Kept clawing for Hawk’s attention until he’d struck a cord Hawk wasn’t ready in time to cover.

He’d fucking baited him and Hawk had fallen for it. Slipping right into his trap, chomping down right on the hook, and suffered for it.

Growling to himself he dug his nails further into his skin, the soap surrounding his wrist starting to turn pink.

That fucker. Stupid fucking Demetri. Why was it so easy for him to get under his skin?

Stupid question. He knew why.

Hawk curled his shoulders and shoved his wrist under the sink.

He knew when he was being played with. Knew that Demetri was amusing himself at his expense. He just couldn’t keep himself from reacting, from playing right into his hands every time.

If he was going to get serious about this he was going to have to find a way to get around Demetri’s little mind games. A way to stop being so effected by his ex best friend and to find a way to hurt him in turn, throw him off his game.

He took in a deep breath.

That could come later though. Fixing the cobra problem was his number one priority right now.

As he pulled his hand out from under the water, the newly cleared sight showed off the deep claw marks he’d dug to try and wash the feeling away.

Ugh. That looked bad. How was he going to explain that to his mom?

It was a good thing he’d taken a liking to wearing long sleeves lately.

With a sigh he opened the door. Bringing himself face to face with Sensei Kreese.

Automatically his posture went ridged, his hand tightening around the handle and the other slipping behind his back in a half form of standing at attention.

“Sensei.” He greeted, his face carefully blank of any of the lingering frustration he’d been feeling.

“At ease.”

The smile on Sensei’s face was easy and lightly amused and Hawk found himself listening to the order as his hands fell weightlessly to his sides with a soundless sigh of relief.

And than tensing again when he realized that this was just what Demetri was talking about.

Cursing himself inwardly he shook the thought from his head.

It didn’t matter what Demetri thought. This is how one was supposed to react around their leader. With respect for their orders.

So lost in his thoughts Hawk didn’t notice the way that Sensei’s eyes fell to the fresh wound on his wrist or the flash of alarm that crossed his features. He only snapped back to it when a firm grip wrapped around his elbow and his hand, forcing his arm up and the scratches on display.

“What happened?”

“I scrubbed to hard.” Hawk replied without missing a beat, his mask of indifference lost as his brows pulled together in confusion.

But Sensei didn’t look any more comforted by his explanation. His lips in a thin line as he eyed the small amount of pooling blood. “I’m sorry Sensei, did I-,”

“Quiet.”

Hawk snapped his mouth shut.

The warnings were never as loud as Sen- Mr- as Lawrence’s, but the penalty of not following them after it was uttered rung loud and clear.

Only one person had been dumb enough to keep pushing after one such warning. A new guy Hawk couldn’t even recall the face of. He’d only been there for one class. He’d left about five minutes in with a busted lip and a set of bruised ribs.

That had been the only demonstration that Hawk had needed to see to learn the lesson second hand.

Be that as it was though he couldn’t think of why the features of his Sensei’s face looked so pinched. Or why he was still staring at his wrist so intently.

It was only a little blood. He’d just scratched maybe a bit to hard. It was nothing serious, nothing the man needed to concern himself with.

But he bit on his tongue at the questions that swirled in his mind, waiting until he was asked before speaking.

“Next time, stop before it bleeds.”

That... seemed like pretty odd advice. Normally he had them working until the mats were filthy with blood. Cleaning at the end of the day had become such a nasty job that no one ever wanted to do it so it was left for the kids who’d failed the most matches.

Hawk was proud to say after that rule had been set in place he’d never had to clean them again.

But he nodded his head anyways to the new rule, clasping both of his hands behind his back the second he had his arm back.

“Yes Sensei.”

The man gave a single nod of his head, but still continued to eye Hawk for a long enough moment it made him want to squirm.

What was he looking for?

“Nickles is running late.” He eventually muttered, jerking his head towards the open dojo floor. “Her boss needed her for another hour.”

Glancing at the half filled floor Hawk did in fact notice that Troy wasn’t there, neither was Kylar for that matter.

He bit down on the inside of his cheek to keep the smile from his lips as he turned back to face the man before him.

Her boss was keeping her an hour late his ass.

Seemed his plan was working, perhaps a little quicker than he was expecting.

Tory must have been pissed when she stumbled upon the fake page Hawk had sent her anomalously. Couple that with the nasty group chat involving vulgar comments about her, her mother and a few of the other Cobra woman seemingly between Kylar and a few of the other Cobras and he might have just knocked out at least four of the future problems he had in one go.

Maybe he would have time to think up something for Demetri after all.

“Go lead them in warm ups Hawk.”

“Yes Sensei.”

Bringing his hands sharply down to his sides he bowed to the man, stepping through the doorway and down the small hallway.

Somewhere in the back of his mind he could hear Demetri smirking and calling him Kreese’s bitch.

Whatever. He didn’t care.

_‘Guess he doesn’t have much faith in you upholding the Cobra Kai name in the tournament this year. He needs a champion, and he knows that’s not you.’_

Hawk stumbled as the words wrapped around his mind.

That part. He knew that wasn’t true. That was just Demetri trying to go for a weak point, to land a hit and see what happened.

But... there wasn’t any truth to it right? Sure there were more options available now, but that was just to fill out their ranks with more meat. To give them more teeth in group brawls. To make sure that people knew better than to mess with anyone who stood under the banner of Cobra Kai.

Sensei had never once doubted his skills as a fighter. His dedication to his team. His-,

_‘How much longer do you think you can hold out for before Kreese decides you’re one of those spineless pussies.’_

Hawk seethed where he stood. He wasn’t a fucking pussy. Kreese knew that. Hawk was the one that he turned to whenever he-

_‘Vandalizing the dojo, being an asshole, going after ex Cobras and Miyagi dos alike.’_

Fuckfuckfuck! Wait no that-! Sensei hadn’t told him to do those things! Not really he just-,

_‘You’re nothing more than a little foot soldier to Kreese.’_

Hawk growled, bringing his hands up to his ears to try and block out the voice. It didn’t matter that he’d done this countless times before lately and that he knew it was pointless.

He couldn’t listen to Demetri. He was trying to get under his skin. He couldn’t let him invade his mind like that. Couldn’t take any of his words for face value. Demetri didn’t know anything. 

‘ _You’re good at following orders.’_

Fuck off!

‘ _Hitting a little to close to home?’_

He could hear the echo of Demetri’s laughter, feel the sting of his amusement.

It should have been easy to ignore his words. Demetri wasn’t anything to him. He shouldn’t have cared what he thought about anything he did.

‘ _This is all you have left. You destroyed everything else.’_

No he hadn’t! If anything he had built everything! He had started from the ground up in remaking himself as something untouchable! As something unbreakable!

‘Y _ou’d come crying to my room, begging to be held.’_

No he didn’t. That had been Eli! That weak little snivelling baby. That pathetic pussy who had been the butt of every joke to everyone who’d ever met him.

‘ _My little crybaby.’_

That was even all that Demetri saw. How could anyone blame him for not wanting to be that person anymore? Couldn’t people see that he was so much better now? That he was so much happier?

‘ _You know it’s got to be exhausting to be you.’_

It wasn’t. He could handle this. He was handling this. Tory and Kylar were enough proof of that.

_‘Constantly being on guard. Always surrounded by threats. Trying to live up to such high expectations.’_

So what? It made him tougher- stronger! It showed him what life really was. He wasn’t stupid. He’d grown up knowing that he was always going to have it a little harder, this gave him the means to fight back. To make anyone and everyone regret trying to-

_‘Don’t you ever get tired of it all?’_

Hawk could feel his breath hitch, his chest burning for air he apparently wasn’t taking in.

He- he was tired. He was so fucking tried.

Tried of looking over his shoulder, of watching his every step, of second guessing everything people did, of their intentions, of feeling outnumbered and alone.

He was fucking exhausted of being on guard all the fucking time.

He just wanted to lay down and suffocate under a pile of blankets. He wanted to smash in the faces of everyone he knew until his bones were broken and they were nothing more than a bloody blob that was unidentifiable from one to the next. He wanted to take his chances walking on the edges of skyscrapers and to keep walking until there was no ledge left.

He was just so fucking tired- of all of it.

It hadn’t occurred to him that he didn’t make it out of the small hallway and on to the main floor, that he had froze a few mere steps away from his original location until a hand landed solidly on his shoulder and pulled him back.

“Come with me.”

Allowing himself to be turned in the opposite direction, Hawk wordlessly followed the order of his Sensei, just like the bitch Demetri accused him of being.

They didn’t say anything as he was brought to the back room, part of his mind feeling oddly numb while the other part was setting into a sharp panic.

Sensei had told him to lead them in warm ups. A job that normally fell on Tory’s shoulders. A job that he had trust Hawk with and he had fucked up in a mere minute all because he couldn’t get out of his stupid head for more than two seconds.

Sensei was going to be pissed. He was going to drop Hawk to the bottom of his list. He was-,

“Jesus Christ kid, breath.”

His hand clutched at his chest, his lungs absolutely on fire as he forced down mouthfuls of air. Had he still not been breathing? How had he not noticed that?

Face burning in a lethal combination of shame and embarrassment Hawk found himself pressing his hands to his knees, his head suddenly spinning and his whole form feeling off balance.

The whole time, his sensei said nothing. The lack of anything to go off of only fuelling the swirling anxiety that was still choking him.

God, he really hoped he wasn’t about to throw up again.

“Hey.” The eruption of a loud clap going off right in front of his face startled him enough to jerk him back. “Breath.” He commanded. “In,” Hawk sucked in a sharp breath of air, “hold,” without a second thought he held the air in his lungs, his chest still heaving but no air coming in, “out.” With a hard whoosh, he forced the air out. “Good. Again.”

They stood in the back room, the door closed and the rest of the group on the other side. Hawk following the simple words of his Sensei over and over again until the world felt a little more solid under his feet.

Finally feeling a little more in control of himself Hawk instantly felt his face flush even warmer. Now that there was nothing to distract his mind from the situation that was happening his stomach twisted in deep humiliation of what he’d let his Sensei see.

“Sorry Sensei.” His words were weak and he hated himself for it.

A wince pulled at his face, his tongue swiping out to wet his dry lips. This was one of the worst ways to start the lesson. “I... it won’t happen again.”

“I was in the army.” Kreese said, a single corner of his mouth quirking up to form a smirk. “You think I haven’t seen my fair share of men crack?”

That only made Hawk feel worse, fighting against his shoulders as they tried to curl up to his ears in embarrassment. At least those people had good reasons to panic. The people that Kreese was talking about were soldiers, people who lived with the threat of death at every moment of their lives.

Hawk was losing his shit over nothing but a few words. Like one of the spineless pussies he’d been talking to Demetri about earlier.

That Demetri had turned around and accused him of being himself.

Go figure he’d find the perfect way to prove him right.

“What happened?”

He opened his mouth to speak, and instantly felt the words drying in his mouth like sand.

How was he supposed to explain what had happened? That he’d allowed an enemy to claw so deeply into his mind that he’d lost his footing? What would Sensei think if he knew that he was so easily beaten without someone even throwing a single fist?

“Hawk.”

He jolted at the command hidden in his name.

“I got into an argument with someone at school.” Kreese’s brows rose in that way that they did whenever he wanted someone to explain further so Hawk quickly fell over himself to continue. “H-They’re from Miyagi do.” Oh shit, he looked mad now.

It was a subtle change, but one that was glaringly obvious to anyone who knew the man. “I- we just, they said somethings and I guess they just... got into my head.”

This was stupid.

It was so fucking stupid.

Sensei was going to throw him out. He was going to realize just how pathetic Hawk was, regardless of how hard he tried to hide it. He was going to start doubting his ability to be on his team. His worthiness of Cobra Kai.

Instead, the man’s eyes dropped pointedly back to his wrist.

Hawk didn’t need to be prompted with another command to fill him in.

“They... grabbed me.” There was no way in hell he was going to tell Sensei what Demetri had actually done, just like he wasn’t giving him any hints on who it was he was talking about. “I could still feel it.”

He kept his hands tightly clenched into fists, afraid that their trembling would be far to obvious if he didn’t.

The urge for his sensei to say something, anything, was turning deeply in his stomach. He could feel a bead of sweat slowly trickling down his temple as he wait- and waited- and waited.

What was Kreese going to say? What was running through his mind right now? What was he thinking about?

“When I was a younger man,” Hawk found himself snapping to attention. He loved hearing Sensei’s tales from his younger years. He still kicked so much ass now Hawk always found himself daydreaming of what a beast he must have been when he was in his prime. “my mother was, very sick.”

Oh?

Hawk gave a slight tilt of his head, his confusion showing clearly on his face. He’d never heard his Sensei talk about his mother before. Or his dad for that matter. It was always about his army buddies.

“I’ve seen people lose battles against their own minds before,” Hawk felt his blood turn cold at what he was implying, about what might have happened to her. “I won’t tolerate watching someone else lose.” The tone in his voice left no room for argument, Hawk straightened himself out till he felt like his spine would snap. “That kid decides to mess with you again, make him regret it.”

“Yes Sensei.” That’s what he was trying to do. He just didn’t know how.

“Remember, be smart.” The solid feeling of the large hand landing on his shoulder reminded Hawk of just how much smaller he was than the one in front of him. “Find the heart, and rip it out. Your enemy can’t attack if they’re broken.”

Hawk felt like he’d been hit by a two ton truck.

How had he missed that?

He thought that he was setting up great things for Tory and Kylar, but really he was just pissing Tory off and getting her to attack Kylar to take him out of the game.

But that didn’t neutralize either of them. It just added space between them and pissed them off.

He thought he was being smart, but his Sensei was right. If he could break down someones spirit it would do just as well to keep them from bothering him. It would work even better.

Before he’d shed his loser skin, Eli had nearly been so broken he’d almost given up. The only thing that had saved him was Hawk swooping in to take his place. To fix the broken pieces and make a weapon out of the left over shards.

So what would he have to do to break Demetri? Not to the point where Eli had been, he didn’t... he couldn’t push him that far. But what would push him far enough that he would finally leave Hawk alone and come to terms that he wasn’t going anywhere? To make him give up on this insane idea that Eli would ever come back. The Eli even wanted **to** come back.

The weight of the hand giving a set of firm pats to his shoulder nearly made his knees buckle, managing to break him out of his thoughts fast enough to sort himself out and stand back at attention.

“Now get out there. Lead the troops in warm ups.”

“Yes Sensei.”

After making sure to properly bow to the man, Hawk moved around him and back out to the front.

As he walked his mind was left spinning with ideas, of trying to go through and reevaluate the weakness he knew about and what he could do to really make them hurt.

The smallest of smiles pulled at his lips as he approached the mats, only for his head to snap back to the room he’d left his sensei in as a realization dawned on him.

He hadn’t mentioned a gender for the person he’d been speaking about. He’d only referred to Demetri as they. The last thing he wanted was for his Sensei to know who it was he was talking about, something that would be only all to easy to figure out if he were to ask any of the Cobras attending his school which guy was giving him a hard time.

Did that mean that Sensei already knew? Had Tory maybe mentioned something? Was he aware of how much Demetri and Hawk were constantly at each others throats?

He wouldn’t... do anything about that right?

He could feel his palms growing sweaty as he slowly turned back to the students, swallowing passed the sudden lump in his throat as he faced them.

“Fall in!”

As the students scrambled to get themselves lined up in neat rows, Hawk pressed the curves of his nails against the palms of his hands.

He was going to have to find a way to take Demetri out of the picture, and quick.

He wouldn’t have Kreese sending anyone else to do it for him.


End file.
